triple-a, and then sold the worthless packages to investors, including pension funds. remember when the bubble burst? the dow lost more than 5,000 points, 40% of its value. retirement nest eggs were wiped out. nearly 7.5 million americans lost their jobs, and 1.3 million homes were lost to foreclosure. well, today, a woman known for prosecuting terrorists and mobsters was appointed to head the securities and exchange commission, the federal agency that will be enforcing new financial regulations. major garrett is at the white house for us tonight with more. major. >> reporter: scott, mary jo white's closest friends say she dislikes washington and disdains office politics and bureaucracy. they say her dream job would be commissioner of major league baseball or fbi director. she was considered for that latter post before president obama picked white, one of this generation's best prosecutors, to police wall street.

the first woman u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, white led prosecution teams that convicted mob boss john gotti, a vicious mob killer who had escaped prosecution by tampering with juries. white kept her jury anonymous and sequestered. she built the best set of terrorism prosecutors in america, convicting the blind sheik for conspiracy to bomb the united nations and other new york landmarks. she also convicted ramsey youseff for the 1993 world trade center bombing. and she was on osama bin laden's trail before anyone, indicting the al qaeda leader for the deaths of 18 u.s. soldiers in somalia in 1993, charges that later included the 1998 bombings embassies in kenya and tanzania. >> so i'd say that's a pretty good run. you don't want to mess with mary jo. mary jo does not intimidate easily. and that's important. because she has a big job ahead of her. the s.e.c. played a critical role in protecting our financial

system during the worst of the financial crisis, but there's much more work to be done to complete the task of reforming wall street and making sure that american investors are better informed and better protected going forward. >> reporter: for the last ten years, white has been in private practice defending some of the world's biggest banks against s.e.c. charges. now, historically, these big banks have delayed or evaded s.e.c regulations through better lawyers. in white, these big banks may meet their match. >> pelley: major, thank you. well, a lot of wall street's big names are in davos, switzerland, for the world economic forum this week, and that's where we find anthony mason. anthony, what are they saying about the nomination of mary jo white? >> reporter: well, scott, the thing you have to remember here is the s.e.c. was a laughing stock when it missed the bernie madoff ponzi scheme, and it spent the last three years trying to restore its reputation.

under the outgoing enforcement director, robert guzani, himself a former prosecutor, it has had a record number of cases including 180 insider trading cases. but the appointment of mary jo white is a sign the pressure is not going to let up. if anything, they're going to be turning up the heat at the s.e.c. >> pelley: well, anthony, while you were in the chilly alps, we got a lot of good economic news here at home today. we saw that layoffs are down-- initial claims for unemployment benefits hit 330,000, the lowest level in five years. and on wall street today, the s&p 500 briefly crossed 1,500 for the first time since 2007. it closed just under that. what are you hearing from the world's bankers there? >> reporter: well, scott, i spoke with christine lagarde the head of the international monetary fund, today, who, like most here, agrees the atmosphere is much more optimistic than it was a year ago. but lagarde is more guarded than most, and she calls this a make-

or-break year for the global economy. >> you look at the u.s., the fiscal cliff has been avoided, but there are decisions that have to be made in the course of 2013 concerning fiscal deficits, concerning the debt ceiling, which is why 2013 is a make or break. >> reporter: if those decisions are postponed again? >> well, it will be pushing the can down the road yet again, which was a reproach that we made against the europeans, and i don't think that the u.s. should fall in that trap. >> reporter: lagarde says governments and legislators can't be allowed to let up or slip back, that we can't go back to business as usual. >> pelley: anthony, thank you very much. democratic senator dianne feinstein of california introduced legislation today to reinstate the federal ban on assault weapons, but she acknowledged that supporters face an uphill battle. nancy cordes is at the top of that hill tonight in washington. nancy. >> reporter: scott, the bill

that she and other democrats introduced today is even tougher than the assault weapons ban that congress let lapse back in 2004. this bill would ban the sale of 157 different military-style firearms. flanked by police officers doctors, and mayors, senator dianne feinstein of california made her case today for banning the types of weapons used to carry out mass shootings. >> they fall into the hands, one way or another, of grievance killers, of gangs, of those who are mentally unstable or ill. >> reporter: the bill would stop the sale and manufacturing of semiautomatic weapons with military features such as detachable stocks, which make the guns easier to conceal. magazines and drums that hold more than ten rounds would also be outlawed. feinstein also asked half a dozen gun victims to share their stories, to give the measure a human face. lilly habtu was shot three times

at virginia tech. >> i have a bullet still in my head. i was shot in the jaw. it's one inch... it's one millimeter away from my brain stem. >> reporter: but the ban faces stiff opposition from conservatives, such as senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, who released this robo-call in his home state of kentucky. >> president obama and his team are doing everything in their power to "restrict" your constitutional rights to bear and keep arms. >> reporter: and it will be tough for feinstein to win over some democrats from conservative and rural states. what's your message to democrats who oppose this? >> look, the message to democrats is, "see what your silence does? there will be more of these. these aren't going to end." >> reporter: there are more than 2,000 types of hunting and sporting weapons that are not involved or affected by the ban. but, scott, the push for the ban could end up taking a back seat to measures that have more

bipartisan support, like a move to strengthen background checks for gun buyers. >> pelley: well, nancy, in senator feinstein's home state the police in fontana, california, are taking a different approach to fighting gun violence. they're arming the officers who protect schools with high- powered semiautomatic rifles. and we asked bill whitaker to tell us more about that. >> it's heartbreaking that we have to resort to this level of preparedness. >> reporter: the fontana school district chief of police is billy green. his 14 officers protect 42,000 students. last october, green spent $14,000 to buy each officer a semiautomatic rifle. fontana is one of the first school districts to publicly acknowledge having such weapons on campus. by day, they're locked in patrol cars or police lockers in school buildings. so these are military-style weapons. >> yes, sir. they're similar to the platform of what you would see on a.r.-15

or an m-16, all made by colt, an american manufacturer. >> reporter: there has never been a gun death at any fontana schools. chief green says the newtown shooting convinced him he's doing the right thing. >> to say that nothing like that could ever happen on one of our campuses here is irresponsible. we need to plan for this. we need to be prepared for this. >> reporter: many parents and teachers didn't know until this week he bought the military- style rifles. school board member sophia green says the money would be better spent on counseling a troubled student. >> but it will be like a blood bath. he has a gun, the police has a gun. all... you know, i don't think that's the way... the avenue we want to take. >> to the people that have that opinion, my question would be "when? do we wait until there's been a tragic loss of life?" >> reporter: chief green says he can bear the criticism. he couldn't bear the loss of even one student's life. bill whitaker, cbs news, fontana, california.

>> pelley: senator john kerry today appeared before the senate foreign relations committee, a committee that he chairs, as it held a hearing on his nomination to be secretary of state. talking about some of the world's hot spots, kerry said the u.s. will do whatever it must to keep iran from developing a nuclear weapon. and about the syrian civil war kerry said time is running out for the assad dictatorship there. outgoing secretary of state hillary clinton testified before the same committee yesterday about the new terrorist threat in north africa, in mali. >> but this is going to be a very serious ongoing threat. we are in for a struggle, but it is a necessary struggle. we cannot permit northern mali to become a safe haven. >> pelley: fighters linked to al qaeda have taken over parts of mali. the french sent in troops recently to push them out, and the u.s. air force is helping to

carry the french troops there. so we sent elizabeth palmer to this new center of terrorism. >> reporter: malians along the road cheered and waved france's flag as a convoy of hundreds of french soldiers and their weapons drove toward the town of diabaly. to people here, these are the troops who chased al qaeda- linked fighters away. life is now returning to normal. diabaly was the closest the islamic militants got to the capital bamako. but they only stayed for four days before the french government launched its attack. in diabaly, there was never any ground combat. the french simply hit the islamists from the air and destroyed their equipment and ammunition. that was enough to get them on the run. it was welcome news for the boubakar family. we met them on the road with a cart full of household goods. the extremists had marched sinanta away at gun point and tried to pump him for local

knowledge. are you worried for your family that the islamists will come back? >> ( translated ): oh, yes. >> reporter: cobbla says she's still having nightmares. though in the end, the fighters did let him go, the whole family has decided to head up the road where they know there will be troops to protect them. these are the malian troops who, along with the french, are occupying the town that just a week ago was the front line. they say the islamist fighters have retreated but they're not taking any chances. and the people are grateful. they say the fighters may have disappeared, but the threat will remain until it's certain they're never coming back. >> pelley: elizabeth palmer joins us now in diabaly, mali. elizabeth, what's next in the french military campaign? >> reporter: well, the french are securing this area, but they are still actively fighting up north where there are believed

to be much larger concentrations of islamic militants, especially in two big cities. there's active bombing going up there. we know that. but there's an information blackout-- no land lines, no cell phones, and no internet. so it's very hard to know exactly how fast they are or are not advancing. >> pelley: elizabeth, thanks very much. as we first reported last night, the pentagon is lifting the ban on women serving in combat. the official announcement came today from defense secretary leon panetta, and general martin dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. panetta said not everyone can qualify for combat, but everyone is entitled to the chance. what is causing batteries on the 787 dreamliner to burn? we'll investigate. sub-zero temperatures turn a lake into a steam bath. and we'll show you some rare color photos of world war ii when the cbs evening news continues.

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flammable liquid electrolyte. federal investigators are examining the disassembled battery from the 787 that caught fire in boston january 7. george bromagain worked for eveready for 40 years, and says lithium ion batteries are bundled together for the 787 and that increases the risk. >> these fires burn at a very high temperature, so they're just very dangerous fires. >> reporter: the boston fire and the burned-out battery on a dreamliner in japan are not the first time lithium ion batteries have caused problems. in 2011, a chevy volt lithium ion battery was damaged in this crash test. three weeks later, it burst into flames. chevrolet installed a number of fixes to prevent fires. safety features were also added to lithium ion batteries in some cell phones and laptops after 56 million were recalled for risk of overheating and exploding. boeing says lithium ion batteries best met the

performance and design objectives of the 787, and based on everything we know at this point, we have not changed our evaluation. bromagain considers the safety of lithium ion batteries on plane questionable. >> from what i know about the incident, i would not fly on a dreamliner tomorrow. that... i just wouldn't feel that it was appropriate or safe. >> reporter: experts we spoke to believe in the promise of lithium ion batteries, scott including for airliners, but they just aren't sure its safety has been perfected. >> pelley: sharyl, thank you. from too much heat to too much cold-- snow is on the way tonight from the great lakes to the northeast, adding to the deep freeze. on mount washington in new hampshire, the wind made it feel like 70-below some morning. it was still well below zero in the upper midwest. in minnesota, a waterfall turned into an ice wall. beautiful. steam rose over lake superior-- when the lake water evaporated

and hit the super-cold air, it condensed back into liquid droplets. he was a baseball legend. st. louis says good-bye to stan the man when we come back. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. no routine blood monitoring

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your routine? ask your doctor about once-a-day xarelto®. for more information including cost support options call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. >> pelley: in st. louis today, baseball fans said good-bye to stan musial. they lined up outside the cathedral basilica for a chance to view musial's casket. "stan the man" was one of the greatest ever to play the game

left field and first base, a 24- time all-star with the cardinals. he died saturday at the age of 92. this next story is a beauty. for most of us, world war ii is a history in black and white. but have a look at what we saw today. "life" magazine dug into its archives and posted online rare color photographs taken before and after d-day. kodak had invented modern color film in 1935, but war photos in black and white were easier to process and transmit back home. these photographs by frank scherschel show the american invasion force in england, eating their meals on boxes of ammunition. a corporal stacked cans of gasoline in preparation. infantrymen marched through a park. after the normandy invasion, a chaplain ministered to the wounded. american soldiers in the helmets posed with german p.o.w.s.

the french celebrated the liberation of paris. a french couple shared cognac with an american tank crew. somehow, in color, it made us think of how fresh and present the world war could seem. a mythical sea creature is a myth no more. that story is next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ ♪

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finally tonight, among the legendary creatures never proven to exist, there are the loch ness monster, the yetti, and bigfoot. but there is one more that you can now cross off that list and with its own ink. here's michelle miller. >> reporter: elusive as a ghost, the animal no one had ever seen alive emerged from the total darkness beneath the ocean's surface, the first sighting made possible by marine biologist edie widder, who dreamed up the right kind of bait. >> we've got something, you know, the size of a two- to four-story house in the deep ocean that we've never seen. that's crazy. >> reporter: until now. >> until now. >> reporter: for hundreds of years they were known only by carcasses that washed ashore. last summer, off the coast of japan, widder joined a group of scientists who went fishing with a new idea. >> okay. now we're talking. >> reporter: they used a glass capsule to descend 2,000 feet

under the sea and a lure widder invented called an electronic jellyfish. >> we paid attention to what the squid pays attention to. >> reporter: jellyfish in these waters light up when they are attacked by bigger fish. the giant squid, she reasoned, would be attracted by the light because it would mean food was nearby. it worked. an animal 26 feet long came into view. >> this is the shot i love where it just comes in and goes up over the jellyfish and then spreads those arms wide and engulfs the camera system. it is this alien creature that's got eight arms and two slashing tentacles riding around in a parrot beak that rips flesh and an eye that's as big as your head. i mean, what science fiction writer wouldn't just love it? >> reporter: the expedition was filmed by the discovery channel as part of its "curiosity" series. >> okay. so this is -- >> oh!! oh, my god!

>> reporter: scientists only made six sightings but believe there could be millions of the creatures lurking in the mysteries of the deep, oceans that remain 95% unexplored. michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> and with that image of the giant squid, that is the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald allen and liz are off tonight. wn good evening, i'm brian hackney. >> i'm juliette goodrich. allen and liz are off tonight. an upbeat governor brown laid out an optimistic vision of california's future in his annual state of the state. >> california's back, its budget is balanced and we're on

the move. >> his live within our means message went over well with republicans. but cbs 5 reporter phil matier tells us that doesn't mean he won't face a few fights. >> reporter: whether it's not having enough money or don't know how to spend what you have, there's bound to be a tug of war but today, governor brown laid out his vision of where the money should go and it's classic governor brown. >> great state of california, the honorable edmond brown, jr. >> reporter: he invoked everything from the bible to the little engine that could but as messages go governor jerry brown's state of the state address was pretty much about one thing. >> living within our means and not spending while we don't have. the people have given us seven years of extra taxes. let us follow the wisdom of joseph, pay down our debts, and store up reserves against the leaner times that will surely follow. >> reporter: in other words, the millions of dollars in cuts to social and health services for the poor will remain in

place for now. >> we also need to rethink and streamline our regulator procedures. >> even republicans were happy to hear. >> i think his heart is in the right place but with jerry brown you have to look at what he does. >> reporter: on the other hand, some bay area democrats felt the governor was coming up short on compassion for the poor and disabled. >> not to spend more money but to spend it more wisely. >> reporter: they both agreed on his stand against ongoing hikes in stated college tuition. >> i'm not going to let them become the default financiers of our colleges and universities. >> reporter: his call to give more education money to poor schools possibly at the expense of richer suburban districts. >> i'm being asked to vote against the interests of my school district for the betterment of the state. that's a tough question for legislators to deal with. >> reporter: but whatever the fight, brown seems determined for as the little engine said as it pushed the big train up the mountain. >> i think i can, i think i can. i think i can. and over the mountain the little engine went.